God Is Good—Even in Your Suffering

Have you experienced severe suffering? Maybe you're struggling with a job loss, experiencing abuse, divorce, illness or the death of a loved one. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by cancer or depression. If you are going through such experiences, the statement “God is good for you” may sound like a mockery. You may wonder if God even exists, and if so, how he can be good in the face of your suffering.

It's understandable if everything in you is resisting believing in it right now. But perhaps this is exactly the moment to give God one last chance. The crucial question is: can God give you perspective, even in the midst of the greatest pain?

The Bible reveals a God who does not ignore suffering, but knows it—better than we can imagine. Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, suffered deeply himself. He wept with the mourners, accepted the outcasts and bore physically and emotionally unimaginable suffering on the cross. He knows your suffering—not just from afar, but first-hand. And because Jesus lived through suffering, he can carry you through it.

Suffering is not good. But God is. And it is precisely in the darkness that a new perspective can open up. Maybe you don't have to understand everything. Maybe it's enough that God understands. This perspective is called trust. It is the belief that God is not far away, but is reaching out his hand to you—a hand that holds you, even if the ground beneath your feet gives way or breaks away completely.

God gives peace that goes beyond human comprehension—an inner peace that does not mean the absence of suffering, but overcoming it. This peace is not something, but someone—Jesus Christ. If you think you have lost everything—or have nothing left to lose—you have one thing left: the chance to win. Open your heart to God. Allow him to give you a new perspective. He is good. He is for you. And he will carry you through everything. He is not just the light at the end of the tunnel. He is the light at your side as he accompanies you through the dark valley.

Next Step: Jesus stands at the door of your heart and knocks. If you open the door to him, he will come in and have fellowship with you (cf. Revelation 3:20) Will you open your heart's door to him?